TOKYO, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- Governor of the Bank of Japan (BOJ) Haruhiko Kuroda said here Wednesday that the central bank will take every possible measure to achieve its 2 percent inflation goal, saying Friday's surprising additional monetary easing was a move to reach the purpose.
Kuroda made the remark during a lecture here, saying "will do whatever it can to achieve the price stability target at the earliest possible time" and the central bank will take additional measures if "downside risks to prices become substantial."
The central banker said that the additional monetary easing unveiled on Friday "represents nothing less than the bank's unwavering commitment."
The BOJ announced Friday that it expanded its "quantitative and qualitative easing" and will buy more government bonds and investment trusts from banks and other financial institutions to encourage them to lend more to businesses in a move to push up the inflation rate to 2 percent by sometime next year.
Following the decision, the Tokyo stocks market saw a big surge in the previous two trading days with the benchmark Nikkei stocks index skyrocketed about 7.7 percent during the days and the Japanese yen also sharply retreated against the U.S. dollar to about lower 104 yen level.
Kuroda said that the ultra-loose policy introduced since 2013 has helped address "deflationary mindset", but according to the country's core consumer price index, it only rose 1.0 percent in September from a year earlier, without the direct effects of the consumption tax hike, indicating inflation has slowed recently.
Kuroda also said that the depreciation of the yen is positive for the Japanese economy if it reflects economic fundamentals.
Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said Tuesday that the yen's further retreat was a by-product of the BOJ's monetary easing, saying the primary purpose the additional monetary easing is to pull the Japanese economy out of deflationary recession.
Meanwhile, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday welcomed the BOJ's decision on the surprising move, saying the move has been "broadly favored" by financial markets.
But Abe also showed his concern over the yen's falling and said the government "will do whatever we can do to respond to the change in the yen's value," according to local media.
|
